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Alcohol Advice

Last modified date:

23 April 2009

NHS advice on drinking recommends that men should not regularly drink more than 3–4 units of alcohol a day and women should not regularly drink more than 2–3 units a day. ‘Regularly’ means drinking every day or most days of the week. You should also take a break for 48 hours after a heavy session to let your body recover.

Don’t mix alcohol with any kind of medication as it can reduce the effect of the medication and increase harmful side-effects.

Don’t mix alcohol with recreational drugs.

Don’t drink and drive or operate machinery.

Be careful if you have mental health problems such as depression, as alcohol can make these worse.

Further advice can be found on the Know Your Limits website (see link below).

Alcohol and pregnancy

When you drink, alcohol reaches your baby through the placenta. But the baby can't process it as fast as you can, so it is exposed to greater amounts of alcohol for longer than you are, which can seriously affect the baby's development.

Pregnant women or women trying to conceive should avoid drinking alcohol. If they do choose to drink, to protect the baby, they should not drink more than 1-2 units of alcohol once or twice a week and should not get drunk. Additional advice from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) advises women to avoid alcohol in the first three months in particular, because of the increased risk of miscarriage.

Further advice can be found on the Know Your Limits website (see link below)